1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to articles for the playtime use of a child and more specifically to a transformable stencil toy which assumes different configurations and provides a variety of perforation arrangements.
2. Background of the Invention
One may characterize articles for the playtime use of children, i.e., toys, either as non-representational or as representational. Non-representational toys include items such as balls, tops, jump ropes, or the like which are designed and intended to encourage manual and muscular dexterity and group integration since a child can use them individually or with other children.
Representational toys include those toys which create a mental image of something previously perceived or of something never before wholly perceived in reality. These items usually represent people, creatures, or implements, and they are designed and intended to stimulate imagination, mimetic activity or manipulative skill.
One type of representational toy is a cutout. This toy is a simple outline or silhouette-type figure or design usually cut out of a flat sheet of paper, metal, plastic or fabric. Its amusement or diversion value, however, is minimal, except to the very young. Save looking at its outline, tracing this outline on another surface with ink or paint, or maybe using it as a pattern to cut out another identical figure, a child cannot manipulate a cutout to create different images which he or she had previously perceived or to form mental images of something never before wholly perceived.
Another type of representational toy is a stencil. This toy is usually a flat rectangular plate made of metal or plastic material and perforated with lettering or designs through which one can apply a substance such as ink or paint to another surface. However, its amusement or diversion value is also minimal, since a child using it can only form the preconceived designs of the stencil's manufacturer.
In addition to the drawbacks discussed above, cutouts and stencils, as well as other toys, do not provide mystery and excitement for children because the amusement possibilities that they offer are apparent upon a casual inspection of them. They do not stimulate imagination or manipulative skill to the fullest extent possible.
Thus, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a toy which is easy and safe to use, inexpensive to manufacture, and one which greatly stimulates a child's imagination and manipulative skills.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a transformable stencil toy with movable and perforated sections that a child may arrange and rearrange with simple and fluid motions to create a variety of images. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a transformable stencil with movable portions that a child may arrange and rearrange to change the periphery of the stencil from one design to another and the location of the perforations on the stencil portions to create a wide variety of shapes and images that a child can trace or draw on a working surface such as canvas or paper.